CHENNAI: Amidst the simmering controversy over contracts awarded for storm water drain projects at Chitlapakkam, over which two residents landed in jail, the panchayat recently changed the date of issue of work order on the official notice at two of the project sites even as work was already going on, residents say.
When residents went on their regular inspection to check the progress of work, they found that the date of issue of work order, which was originally marked September 1, a Saturday, was advanced to August 31.
“We pay attention to the date the work orders were issued, especially because two of our residents who had asked for the work orders were eventually jailed, before being released on bail. We noticed that the panchayat had replaced the original banners which had the date as September 1, a Saturday, with new banners that had the date August 31,” said Govindaraj K, a resident.
Residents, especially members of the local resident activism group ‘Chitlapakkam Rising’, had consistently raised concerns on the transparency of tender processes by the panchayat.
As Express reported earlier, residents had previously raised an alarm, when workers showed up to dig the drains on a government holiday, merely hours after the deadline for the tender of the cut-and-cover storm water drain project ended on October 17.
While the panchayat had defended the work saying that the work that was going on was for a mud canal project and not for the cut-and-cover storm water drains, residents asked why the same stretch of road was divided into multiple small stretch projects.
“The whole process of dividing the same street under different projects is for the sake of creating confusion when residents ask questions. If the same stretch is already dug up for a mud canal project under a different funding scheme, why digging the same stretch is included as part of the cut and cover project too,” asked a resident, on condition of anonymity.
When contacted, panchayat officials said there were no doubts on the issue of the work order for the tenders floated in August.
“The work order was issued on August 31. It is stated clearly in our records. Initially, all the details were correct. But, we decided to take down the banners to add more details of the project some time ago. When they were put up again, the date was printed as September 1 due to a clerical error. Now, we have changed it again,” the official said.